I’m kicking off my yearly tops with the one for music. However, just like last year, I will avoid doing a proper Top Ten for music, mostly because I didn’t listen to so many albums worth recommending.

Album of the year

Deftones – “Diamond Eyes”

It was a much closer call than last year, because the runner-up is also quite amazing. However, Deftones’ new album beats Oceansize mostly thanks to its better production quality and lack of filler songs. “Diamond Eyes”, despite Chi Cheng’s absence, is brilliant from start to finish.

Runner-up:Oceansize – “Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up”Another great album from one of my all-time favorite bands. However, sound quality seems a bit lower, compared to their last release “Frames”; also the songs are shorter and lack the immense epic complexity they used to have. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a small step back from perfection.

Honorable mentions:Stone Sour – “Audio Secrecy” – a couple of bad pop tracks keep this beast from being truly amazingThe National – “High Violet” – same old amazing sound. Indie rock cannot get any better.Korn – “Korn III” – Korn is back to their roots and back to their old-school sound.

Almost nothing is certain when it comes to future releases. However, 2011 promises new albums from: Radiohead, A Perfect Circle, Dredg, Glassjaw, Fightstar, Mogwai, The Mars Volta, Limp Bizkit, Thrice, Incubus, Evanescence, Cave In, Them Crooked Vultures, Foo Fighters, Staind, Seether, and many others. Should be a pretty good year for rock music – much better than the sub-par 2010, at least.